Bottles to a Cup

Hello T.,
My daughter was drinking milk by bottle before nap time, and before bed until she was 4 years old! She did not like to drink from sippy cup before sleep. This did not cause a problem for us at all.She has grown nicely. Now she is drinking milk from glass(she is almost five now).Sometimes she uses straw.She does not have cavity problems.
I now among other responds, mine is different. But, I just wanted to share my experience.

Ya know, you don't have to do what your Ped says all the time. I don't mean that in an offensive manner, just matter-of-fact. You know what your baby is ready for and when better than anybody else. When it comes to matters like this, where doing things your way or the Dr's way won't affect his health one way or another, stick with what's working for you. You can gradually try a cup here and there, but don't think that you must have the baby off a bottle completely by 15 months. That's just bull honky.

Additionally, it's customary, unless your child is small or underdeveloped, to start the child on milk around 1 year. Hey -- it's a LOT cheaper than formula, ya know?

Mine's 10 months old, is still on formula, with a wee bit of diluted juice maybe 2x a month, water whenever she wants (in a sippy or regular cup), and she's eating all stages of baby food 1-3, some toddler food (conveniently bite-sized) including crackers and fruit puffs, and some safe table foods. She's extremely picky about which sippy she likes. We've tried 4 different ones so far. She likes her Nuby the best (most like a bottle). We use Avent bottles, but she hates the sippy that works with the bottles. She prefers an actual cup to a sippy. Maybe your baby would like a cup -- it's a MESS, but it's not a bottle.

Bottom line? It's up to you when you switch your child over. Hey, technically, you could still be breastfeeding him (if you were going that route) and you Dr wouldn't have a thing to say about switching off the boob, eh?

Good Luck

Hi- my son was in the same situation. He is almost 18 months and still on formula because he has a milk protein allergy. He also wouldn't take milk from a sippy at first. As a previous poster said, we wound up flavoring the milk with sugar-free grape kool-aid (I would have preferred something healthier but they all have dairy!). We started off using small amounts of formula (so we wouldn't waste as much during the training phase) and just a tiny bit of the kool-aid for flavor. It took a matter of days (less than a week, as well as I remember) and he was taking the same amount as he previously took from a bottle. Once he got to that point, we started tapering off on the flavoring, and that only took about another 4-5 days. In all, less than 2 weeks, and he was back to his regular formula out of a sippy.

This is what worked for us, I know some moms would disagree with the artificial sweetener, but frankly, I'm more concerned with dental health (I have a LOT of dental work). Also, there are lots of options to try if your son can have dairy- Ovaltene (sp?), Tang, chocolate or strawberrry syrup, etc. It also makes it easier if you have one of the sectioned formula containers they sell on the bottle aisle, because you can premeasure formula with flavoring- much easier for on the go.

Hope some of this helps.
Good luck and remember- as with most things with kids, it will just take time and persistence.
J.

Hi! Have you tried the Nubby sippy cup? The top is soft like a bottle top. That was the first sippy cup my daughter would drink out of. Good luck to you!
T.

Have you tried adding a little ovaltine or Nestle's Quik to the formula? Maybe if it does not really taste like what he associates with a bottle you could get the bottle to go away, then you could start tapering off on the sweet stuff. I would probably try Ovaltine since it actually has some healthy stuff, not just straight sugar.

Okay...don't take this wrong but stop listening to the doctor. You do what you want for your child. Both my girls were off the bottle and formula by 6 months old. They both were even walking by 10 months and talking. They eat baby food, drank juice and water from a cup. They still ate cereral and things like oatmeal and gritts. They loved eating at the table with us. Both were using spoons by the time they were a year old. Try not giving him formula, it won't hurt him. He's old enough to do with out it. As a Registered Nurse, I use to see this a lot. Just try it and see. Remember...your baby does not belong to your doctor.

I agree that you don't have to do everything a ped says to do, but, if you feel that it's time for him, then it's time. My suggestion is for you to just throw the bottles away. My son was 12 months when he stopped taking formula, so if your son happens to refuse it, it's not going to hurt him. I would just get rid of the bottles, and if he wants a drink, don't give him a choice. He takes it from a cup, or not at all. When he gets thirsty, he'll give in. That's what I had to do with my son about the bottle. I had him off of it at 12 months. If you want to continue with the formula and he won't take it at nap and bedtime with a cup, then give it to him throughout the day, don't give him juice, whatever he drinks, until he's had his formula. You can't give him a choice about the things that are good and right for him. Hope this helps

hey T.

I had a similar problem with my son now 16 mos. When he was 13 mos old and when everything else in out life was fairly routine (this was right after the hubbub of the holidays getting over) I adopted a cold turkey policy except at bedtime: First I got a Nuby cup which has a silicone spout very similar to a bottle and then offered that or a real cup full of milk. The offering of the real cup was enough of a novelty for J to get over his fussiness when he realized he wasn't getting a bottle. I just had to watch him like a hawk that he didn't throw it. After about a month or so he was taking the sippy cup fine with occasionaly real cup practice. Also i never offered him anything else but milk in the cup, no water or juice... if he was thirsty during the day he got milk in a sippy cup. This was to augment his milk intake which of course dropped off when we started this. Also after the nuby cup for a while he did start taking normal sippy cups, a little fussy at first but didn't refuse them. Now i'm working on weaning off the bottle at bedtime. My ped says ok to have millk at bedtime just not right before bed so i've moved the bottle up in the bedtime routine and have been alternating with a bottle and nuby sippy cup. Had to delay for a bit to let an ear infection clear up. I tend to think its better to make big steps when J is feeling 100% and family life is calm. So far so good.... good luck though i know this step can be really frustrating for you and for baby.

My pediatrician suggested that we only offer milk in a cup. She told me when he got thirsty he would begin drinking it. She told me not to offer any juice or water for a few days. It worked though it was not easy because he knew where we kept the bottles and kept going to the cabinet and pointing to the drawer they were in. My friends pediatrician called it "tough love". It took a few days but he began drinking the milk (I had to heat it up still). I did buy some Nesquick strawberry and chocolate flavors to add to his milk to try to temp him but it did not work. Of course, now he gets it as a treat and loves it!